So after few days of me writing a post about domestic workers sexuality in Jordan. A new baby born is found abandoned under Abdoun Bridge. After investigation, it turns out that the parents of the baby are a female Asian house maid and a male Arabian house guard.
I just wish I have a larger voice where I can reach larger audience before something like this happens, but what I can do, I am just a blogger! I don’t write in daily newspapers and I don’t appear on TV, I am neither a government official where I can take some action. But in the other hand, maybe it is just a bless that my voice doesn’t reach out, because the reactions of the officials and the society at large is just too absurd (check out Pheras’s dismay of official’s reaction) where I am starting to believe that it may be better to keep things ignored.
According to Suher’s Bushnaq, a writer at Al Ra’e newspaper in her article yesterday 12/9. She believes that we are giving our domestic workers a lot of freedom and that with such freedom we are subjecting our selves and our families a lot of potential risk. She brilliantly calls at the most popular Jordanian newspaper to subject our domestic workers with more slavery conditions than they already endure.
And to make her article more professional, she sure had to consult a social counselor which I have no idea from where did she get her degree because I believe that social counselors should know at least with basic human rights concepts. The quoted social counselor name is Rabab Allam. She said that people should NOT give their domestic workers any day off including weekends! (Notice the tone of slavery and the violation of every law of workers rights). She also asked families to keep an eye on their maids and restrict their freedom (as if they have any).
Bushnaq goes on describing how families after hearing the news of the baby are taking stronger measurements to prevent such condition to happen to their maid. Those who used to let their maid go out to the supermarket and owning a cell phone are stripping them from such luxuries. We are basically doing a group punishment for all domestic workers in Jordan for what we perceive as an unaccepted behavior from two people.
This case is really hitting on my nerve. The stupidity and ignorance of our society is highlighted like never before. Acknowledging our maids sexuality means tightening their freedom instead of respecting their choices. Instead of punishing them, why don’t we try to sexually educating them and provide them with condoms to at least have safe sex? But as we say in Arabic ‘Faged al shay’ la yo3teeh’ (One that he doesn’t have a thing, can’t give it)
And I leave you with Khalife Omar ibn El khattab saying ‘Matta esta3battom al nas, wa qa waladathom ommahatehom a7raran’ (When did you enslave people and their mothers born then free?)
May God be mercy on us!
Fadi Zaghmout 
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